RSS
ATOM
advertisement
Davis' Discussions: Chris Pontius
Goal.com's Noah Davis has an in-depth look at the D.C. United youngster.
Dec 18, 2009 3:35:11 PM
By Noah Davis
For Chris Pontius, the hardest part of his first season in Major League Soccer may have been finding his way to D.C. United's home, RFK Stadium.
The seventh pick in the 2009 Superdraft roomed with Rodney Wallace (the sixth selection), and the pair would commute together. Despite the fact that Wallace grew up in the D.C. area, the short trip took them upwards of 40 minutes. ("He's terrible with directions," Pontius offered as an explanation when he spoke with Goal.com over the phone Wednesday afternoon.)
"We were driving through the heart of the city for a good month and it was just by far the worst way to go," the attacking player said. "Finally, we asked someone else because we knew there had to be a faster way."
Ben Olsen, one of the many veterans on United who Pontius credits with helping him transition into the life of a professional, showed the former UC-Santa Barbara standout and his roommate a path that cut their trip in half.
Commute issues settled, it took barely more than 40 minutes for Pontius to make his mark at the four-time MLS Cup winners. Just after the hour mark of his professional debut against the Los Angeles Galaxy, he scored... assist coming courtesy of Wallace, of course. Although United allowed Landon Donovan a brace in the final 10 minutes and settled for a 2-2 tie, Pontius' strong play continued during the early stages of the season as his team only dropped one of their first 11 league games.
As the summer wore on, the six-foot tall, 22-year-old began to wear down due to the rigors of the long MLS season. Pontius admits he hit the wall, but also believes his lack of touch around the goalmouth, a facet of his game he seeks to improve, contributed to the perception he was having difficulty dealing with the jump from college to MLS.
"There was definitely a drop in my play in the summer months," he said. "The one thing that I said I need to work on is my finishing and I think if I could have put away more balls, people would have been like, 'Aw, he never hit the rookie wall,' but my lack of finishing definitely affected me and my team throughout the summer months."
While D.C. eventually missed the playoffs, Pontius' play improved near the end of the season. He finished with four goals and three assists in 28 MLS matches and was a finalist for the Rookie of the Year award that went to the Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez. The Yorba Linda, California native didn't return to the West Coast empty-handed, however, as United fans voted him player of the year and Cosmo Girl tapped him as one of soccer's hottest guys.
Additionally, he was one of 18 players selected to participate in the Generation adidas trip to South Africa. During the 10-day excursion, Pontius, along with MLS starlets including Patrick Nyarko, Stefan Frei and, not surprisingly, Wallace, toured the country, trained, and played the reserve sides of Ajax Cape Town and Orlando Pirates.
"The trip was amazing. Amazing," he said. "It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to go on a trip like that. It was good for soccer reasons -- to be training with those guys -- and it was good to see [South Africa's] culture and learn about their history."
For a player who never figured in the United States age group scene getting called was a sign of his development.
"I guess it could be a recognition of how far I've come," he said. "I haven't been recognized much at youth levels, so for them to do that was kind of awesome and I was definitely very excited to go on the trip."
It could also be a sign of things to come. On Wednesday, the Washington Post's Steve Goff tweeted that he heard that Pontius will receive a call-up to the U.S. National Team camp in January. Bob Bradley and the rest of the coaching staff typically look at younger players during the winter training session. While the United player declined to comment if any talks had taken place, he did express an interest to attend.
"I just want to get a shot to play in front of the National Team coaches and obviously perform well there," Pontius said.
As long as someone provides directions to the U.S.'s training facilities at the Home Depot Center, he'll be just fine.
Noah Davis covers the United States Men's National Team for Goal.com.
Discuss all the latest news in the Goal.com Forums.
For Chris Pontius, the hardest part of his first season in Major League Soccer may have been finding his way to D.C. United's home, RFK Stadium.
The seventh pick in the 2009 Superdraft roomed with Rodney Wallace (the sixth selection), and the pair would commute together. Despite the fact that Wallace grew up in the D.C. area, the short trip took them upwards of 40 minutes. ("He's terrible with directions," Pontius offered as an explanation when he spoke with Goal.com over the phone Wednesday afternoon.)
"We were driving through the heart of the city for a good month and it was just by far the worst way to go," the attacking player said. "Finally, we asked someone else because we knew there had to be a faster way."
Ben Olsen, one of the many veterans on United who Pontius credits with helping him transition into the life of a professional, showed the former UC-Santa Barbara standout and his roommate a path that cut their trip in half.
Commute issues settled, it took barely more than 40 minutes for Pontius to make his mark at the four-time MLS Cup winners. Just after the hour mark of his professional debut against the Los Angeles Galaxy, he scored... assist coming courtesy of Wallace, of course. Although United allowed Landon Donovan a brace in the final 10 minutes and settled for a 2-2 tie, Pontius' strong play continued during the early stages of the season as his team only dropped one of their first 11 league games.
As the summer wore on, the six-foot tall, 22-year-old began to wear down due to the rigors of the long MLS season. Pontius admits he hit the wall, but also believes his lack of touch around the goalmouth, a facet of his game he seeks to improve, contributed to the perception he was having difficulty dealing with the jump from college to MLS.
"There was definitely a drop in my play in the summer months," he said. "The one thing that I said I need to work on is my finishing and I think if I could have put away more balls, people would have been like, 'Aw, he never hit the rookie wall,' but my lack of finishing definitely affected me and my team throughout the summer months."
While D.C. eventually missed the playoffs, Pontius' play improved near the end of the season. He finished with four goals and three assists in 28 MLS matches and was a finalist for the Rookie of the Year award that went to the Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez. The Yorba Linda, California native didn't return to the West Coast empty-handed, however, as United fans voted him player of the year and Cosmo Girl tapped him as one of soccer's hottest guys.
Additionally, he was one of 18 players selected to participate in the Generation adidas trip to South Africa. During the 10-day excursion, Pontius, along with MLS starlets including Patrick Nyarko, Stefan Frei and, not surprisingly, Wallace, toured the country, trained, and played the reserve sides of Ajax Cape Town and Orlando Pirates.
"The trip was amazing. Amazing," he said. "It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to go on a trip like that. It was good for soccer reasons -- to be training with those guys -- and it was good to see [South Africa's] culture and learn about their history."
For a player who never figured in the United States age group scene getting called was a sign of his development.
"I guess it could be a recognition of how far I've come," he said. "I haven't been recognized much at youth levels, so for them to do that was kind of awesome and I was definitely very excited to go on the trip."
It could also be a sign of things to come. On Wednesday, the Washington Post's Steve Goff tweeted that he heard that Pontius will receive a call-up to the U.S. National Team camp in January. Bob Bradley and the rest of the coaching staff typically look at younger players during the winter training session. While the United player declined to comment if any talks had taken place, he did express an interest to attend.
"I just want to get a shot to play in front of the National Team coaches and obviously perform well there," Pontius said.
As long as someone provides directions to the U.S.'s training facilities at the Home Depot Center, he'll be just fine.
Noah Davis covers the United States Men's National Team for Goal.com.
Discuss all the latest news in the Goal.com Forums.
Advertisement
Inside Goal.Com
-
DEMPSEY'S DIARY: Playing in the World Cup was the ultimate dream
In his latest diary entry for Goal.com, the U.S. international and Fulham midfielder talks about playing in his first World Cup despite a back injury and what it meant to score.
-
ROGERS: Capello resigns as coach, but the villain is FA chairman Bernstein
Capello and John Terry are far from blameless in the England saga, but the real culprit is the FA chairman.
-
LABIDOU: Is MLS falling behind? The league's new younger direction
With high-profile players like Nicolas Anelka and Luca Toni rejecting MLS for other developing leagues, is the league falling behind its competition?
-
ROSANO: Mexican soccer needs to address referee treatment
Nick Rosano argues that Mexico's continued officiating problems may have less to do with referees themselves and more to do with how they are treated by the federation.
-
VERTELNEY: MLS owners take to Twitter to spread their team's word
"Any time you tweet, it's a mini press conference," says Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson.
Advertisement
Advertisement